Hurricane season in Hawaii is from June 1 through November 30. This year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts a 50% chance of above-normal activity in the central Pacific. A normal season can expect about 4-5 tropical cyclones, while the forecast for 2023 is 4-7.

Employers’ first priority in any weather or other emergency situation should be the safety of people, including workers, customers, guests, etc. Once immediate needs are met, practical questions arise such as, “do I need to pay workers if my business was impacted by the hurricane?” The answer depends on a few factors, including whether the employee is Exempt or Non-exempt, whether work was available, and whether the employee reported to work or tried to report to work, among others.

Exempt Employees

Work Not Available
Employees who are exempt from the FLSA's overtime provisions must generally be paid their regular salary for any workweek in which they are ready, willing and able to work. This means that even if the business is closed due to a weather emergency, and therefore no work is available, the employer must compensate Exempt employees for the full workweek if the employee performed any work that week and was ready, willing, and able to work during the closure. Employers cannot withhold or deduct any part of an Exempt employee’s wages when work is not available because the employer has actually closed for the day or has advised the employee to not report for work because of a weather emergency.
If the business is closed or work is not available for an entire workweek, you do not have to pay your exempt employees for that workweek.

Work Available
If work is available (e.g., the business is open or other work needs to be done while closed), but the Exempt employee refuses or otherwise fails to report to work as scheduled, you do not have to pay for any day they did not report to work. You may withhold or deduct wages for each full day the Exempt employee fails to work when work is available.

Non-Exempt Employees

Work Not Available
Employees who are not exempt from the FLSA's overtime provisions must generally be paid for all time they are “suffered or permitted to work.” Whether or not you have to pay the employee may depend on what the Non-exempt employees do while work is not available. If they report to work and are asked to wait for further instructions, the Non-exempt employees may need to be paid for time spent waiting if they were not free to use the time for their own purposes.

You do not have to pay Non-exempt employees for off-duty waiting time if the following is communicated to the employee: (1) they are completely relieved of their duties; (2) the period of time is long enough to enable the employees to use the time effectively for their own personal purposes; (3) they can leave the workplace; and (4) the time they are required to return to work.

Work Available
If work is available (e.g., the business is open or other work needs to be done while closed), but the Non-exempt employee refuses or otherwise fails to report to work as scheduled, you do not have to pay for any time they did not work.

For more information on paying employees during weather emergencies, click here.

The following resources are available to help you prepare for hurricane season:
• Hawaiian Electric’s Emergency Preparedness Handbook
• HEC’s Natural Disasters and Loss/Protection of Employment Records
• National Weather Services’ National Hurricane Preparedness webpage
• Ready.gov’s Hurricanes webpage and Hurricane Preparedness Documents
• U.S. Small Business Administration’s Protect Your Small Business This Hurricane Season and Hurricane Preparedness Checklist
• U.S. Department of Labor’s Hurricane Season is Coming – Prepare Now to Keep Your Workers Safe